WASHINGTON, DC (February 12, 2014) – The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) today announced a joint agreement to advance support for utility policies that enhance the electric power grid for the benefit of all electricity customers and the environment.

EEI, which represents the nation’s investor-owned electric utilities, and the major environmental organization will work together to encourage state utility regulators to implement policies that balance the desire to promote innovation, while at the same time supporting fair and adequate cost recovery for maintaining the evolving grid.

The agreement urges state utility regulators to adopt a number of policies that range from employing new rate designs to ensure utilities remain financially whole when they help customers adopt distributed generation technologies and use energy more efficiently to assuring customers that costs will not be shifted unreasonably to them from other customers.

“The electric power industry’s mission is to provide safe, reliable, affordable, and increasingly clean electricity. Today utilities are partnering with customers, regulators and all stakeholders to transform the way they generate and deliver electricity. This agreement helps chart a path to success,” said EEI Executive Vice President David Owens.

Ralph Cavanagh, co-director of NRDC’s energy program, added, “This path-breaking agreement steers us toward new and innovative ways to increase and speed the deployment of clean energy resources. NRDC has long advocated for the increased integration of energy efficiency and renewable energy into the nation’s electric grid.”

Owens and Cavanagh announced the agreement during a joint presentation to the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, which is meeting this week in Washington. NARUC’s chief objective is to serve the consumer interest by seeking to improve the quality and effectiveness of public regulation in America.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 1.4 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.

The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) is the association that represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies. Our members provide electricity for 220 million Americans, operate in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and directly employ more than 500,000 workers. Visit us at www.eei.org and follow us on Twitter @edison_electric.